The Magician's Nephew

The tree and fruit Digory must find in the garden outside Narnia’s border symbolize both the tree of knowledge and the tree of life in Genesis. In the Bible story, Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, live in the Garden of Eden, the paradise God created. God instructs them not to eat from the tree of knowledge, but they disobey when a serpent tells them how wonderful the fruit is. God expels them from the Garden of Eden for disobeying his commands and forbids them from eating from the tree of life.

The inscription on the gold gates leading to Narnia’s garden warns Digory only to pick the fruit for others. Digory obeys and takes the fruit for Aslan, and then Aslan gives him another fruit to take home to his mother. Because Digory obeyed, the fruit heals his mother with no negative consequences; for him, the tree is purely the tree of life. The Witch does not listen to the warning and takes the fruit for herself. While she gains everlasting youth, she also gains misery. For the Witch, eating from the tree is like eating from the tree of knowledge and illustrates